Lawyers from Axon Partners together with experts from ForkLog Research, a cryptocurrency consulting company, prepared the report on the legal regulation of Bitcoin businesses in Australia, Great Britain, Hong Kong, European Union, Canada, China, Latin America, Russia, USA, Ukraine, and Japan.

In this report, we provide analysis of certain jurisdictions for the cryptocurrency business in the context of its regulation by governments. The purpose of this document is to provide as much information as possible on the legal requirements for cryptocurrency activities and changing trends in legal regulation.

«What is cryptocurrency? Is it a currency or a commodity? Is it subject to VAT? Are cryptocurrency exchanges required to obtain licenses? Actually, there is no unified approach to dealing with cryptocurrencies: regulators’ opinions differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction (local authorities within one jurisdiction may even disagree on the matter). The key questions remain unanswered, causing additional law enforcement issues. Without specifying the legal status of digital money, it is difficult to even determine tax treatment rules for income (or profits) obtained in cryptocurrency. In fact, cryptocurrency is in a legal vacuum. It is hard to tell whether it is for good or for bad: the answer depends on the specific situation.

One can endlessly argue about the nature of cryptocurrencies and their legal status. However, it looks like in the coming months regulators in most jurisdictions will continue to keep a watch on the development of the cryptocurrency industry and warn about the risks associated with the use of digital currencies», – says Vlad Likhuta, the research coordinator, associate at Axon Partners and legal research analyst at ForkLog Research.